I think it would be fair to say that I am a huge nerd when it comes to politics. Heck, when I met Bill Clinton I totally had an “omigawdima14yearoldgirlmeetingtheBackStreetBoysSCREEAAAAAM” moment.
Unfortunately, because Bakersfield is-well- Bakersfield, no cool political people come here. I take that back: President Bush, Vice President McCoronary, and the Govanator come here on what seems to be a biweekly basis (assholes! Always blocking traffic…not the pit. Sorry.). I’m not rich enough to pay to see the President and Vice President; and Arnold is boring after the 900000th time you hear him say, “Bakers-fuhld! I’ll be baaaack!”.
And with that long set up, our story: my wee little crappy school somehow managed to book Joe Wilson to come speak. I think that the night before he was at Stanford, so talk about a huuuuuuuge change of setting. Now, I would have been giddy about listening to just about any ambassador speak, but I got to listen to the guy who worked during Desert Shield and Desert Storm- much cooler. Oh, and that whole thing that is going on now 
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In the early afternoon, he spoke in a political philosophy class. It was really interesting because maybe thirty people showed up- it ended up being really intimate. He was very, very laid back (and vulgar ;)) and discussed working in Iraq during Desert Shield and Desert Storm, working with Bush 1’s War Council (and his feud with Cheney), meeting Hussein, and he then touched on his wife’s current goings on.
The most interesting thing that he said (in regard to everything that is going on now) was, “[This is] not an act of courage, it is an act of civic duty.” Amen.
He took questions and most people were just trying to see if he thinks Bush is involved with what is going on with his wife, which he pretty much didn’t want to comment on.
Of course, in my endless wisdom, I forgot to bring a camera to the afternoon session. I did get my copy of his booked signed, though.
The evening session was almost exactly like the afternoon, except it was in our theater (so there were a few hundred people), he wore a suit, and cursed less 
. I did get a few pictures of that: One and one more!
Oh, he also said that he and his wife laugh that this is “Plame-Gate”, as they have been married for about 10 years- her last name is Wilson.
Anywho, I just thought that I would share my nerdy glee. If you have any questions, I can try to answer them.
